Hey, Camp Folks!

Say hello to Nate—our man in charge of all the personalized products we offer at Everything Summer Camp. While we make all of our personalized products right here in our own, local facility, it does not happen at our Main Building. Everything Summer Camp has two facilities which are very close to each other. Just a few blocks away and over the railroad tracks is our second building—the print shop..

Manager of the print shop, Nate has many responsibilities to tend to on a daily basis which includes overseeing production, keeping an eye out for quality control in running production, product development, scheduling, and purchasing. Needless to say, Nate’s a busy man—but always good for a laugh or interesting conversation over lunch.

For the last three years, with a knack and strong passion for product development, Nate has enjoyed his employment with Everything Summer Camp, appreciating the variety that his work creates for him.

There are many processes that he has to know—after all, all our Name Labels, Lid Skinz, and the majority of our camp clothing is printed at the shop. The print shop is an impressive place with a carousel for screen printing along with an industrial dryer, two embroidery machines, a Direct to Garment (DTG) printer, two heat presses, and three wide-format printers and a whole lot more.

But Nate knows how worth it all his hard work is, creating quality products that summer campers will cherish for the summer and many years to come. He too spent a summer or two at a Christian Bible Camp where he really sharpened his skills at Ping-Pong as well as Table Shuffleboard.

Nate likes to keep work fun as he enjoys creating his own lyrics for existing songs such as “Hey, Don’t Eat Those Burritos,” (originally “ La Bamba” by Ritchie Valens). And on the days when even song parodies don’t do get him through the day, he at least goes home to his wonderful wife, Katie and his two sons, Alex and Eli.

That’s all for today, everybody. Until next time.

 - John

Hey, Summer Camp Fans!

It is my great pleasure to virtually introduce you to our Receptionist here at Everything Summer Camp. Meet Missy. Missy is the first person you’ll see when you walk into our Main Building. Warm, and incredibly friendly, Missy is always there to help.

Hired on last year for our seasonal help in the Call Center, Missy showed exceptional skills in customer service where she handled inbound calls and the infrequent “problem order.” Soon after last year’s busy season came to an end, she was asked to stay at Everything Summer Camp year-round as the Receptionist.

She still answers customer calls when they go to overflow, so if you call us on a busy day to order a trunk or a duffel bag, there’s a chance you’ll get to talk to her on the phone.

Missy’s favorite part about her job is the variety of duties it entails. From handling camp clothing to checking in all of the cool personalized items like name labels that we make in our own facility through to shipping, Missy truly plays a vital role in making sure that your orders containing customized items are sent out to you just the way that you wanted it!

Aside from handling orders, Missy also handles important spreadsheets upon more important spreadsheets concerning information about our new system after all the changes we’ve made to our Web site as well as all of our sales reports and receiving all applications that we get for Everything Summer Camp.

Missy never did go to summer camp, though she did something much braver! She was a Girl Scout Leader for girls in the first grade. How did she get involved in that? Because Missy’s job stretches beyond her work here at Everything Summer Camp.

Missy goes home to her farm where she lives with her husband, Mike, and their three kids—Chelsea, Morgan, and Luke.

Our thanks goes out to Missy for her fine work as well as all of you readers for getting to know us better at Everything Summer Camp, one person at a time.

- John

Hey, Camp Preppers!

As the end of April draws near and we move into the prime time for summer camp preparations, it’s good to remind yourself that the end result of all your hectic planning is a fun summer camp experience for your camper. That’s why, despite how busy we get at Everything Summer Camp, we always strive to keep our work environment fun.

For today’s blog post I’d like to tell you about another one of Everything Summer Camp’s excellent employees: Jessica. You can always count on Jessica for an infectious smile and a good laugh to keep things light around the office.

Hired on for our seasonal help last year in the call center, Jessica showed exceptional skills in customer service—handling inbound calls and the occasional “problem order.” Soon after last year’s busy season came to an end, Jessica was asked to stay on year-round and was then made the Call Center Supervisor.

If you placed an order over the phone for camp trunks or any camping supplies in the last year, there’s a good chance that you’ve spoken with Jessica.

It seems nothing short of fitting that Jessica should have found a place for herself here at Everything Summer Camp since she spent six years in elementary education, teaching second and third graders. That was when she lived in North Dakota.

After that she went on to work as a Childcare Director where she spent her days with infants and getting to know kids as old as seniors in high school as a substitute teacher. It’s safe to say that working at Everything Summer Camp suits Jessica very well and definitely fits the theme that her work history has developed.

Someone who has worked with, and to help, kids for so long must have really enjoyed their own childhood—right? Jessica fondly recalls her days as a girl scout in Camp Nawakwa, WI. It was there that she learned to make spaghetti—which is now her husband’s favorite meal. It was also where she and a friend learned to canoe—but not before needlessly circling for who-knows-how-long!

Everything Summer Camp is more than happy to have such a diligent, down-to-earth employee as Jessica. Give us a call and maybe you can talk to her too!

Hey, Boys and Girls!

You’re in for a real treat! Today’s post is now the fourth installment of this blog’s employee spotlights. Allow me to virtually introduce you to the Sales Director of Everything Summer Camp, Mr. Matthew Stephen DeMuth. 

With his crazy sense of humor, solid determination, and wild eccentricities, Matt has played a vital role in helping kids get their camp trunks and camping gear on time, the growth of Everything Summer Camp, and the overall shaping of our company for almost eight years.

It’s really sort of a fluke that Matt started working here in the first place. He had posted a résumé online. When we caught sight of it, it got printed out and, somehow, mixed in with a stack of résumés from actual applicants.

Though, he previously had no idea that such a company existed—much less was he trying to apply for any position here, we asked if he wanted to come in for an interview anyway and he accepted.

Brought on as the manager of our Call Center, Matt spoke on the phone to any summer camp with whom we did business. But he showed a great knack for building a rapport from camps that we didn’t already work with.

As a result, he was officially made our Camp Liaison, put in charge of managing each and every camp account that he pursued and acquired. Matt has since embraced his role of building relationships with camps. He spends a good number of workdays visiting summer camps all around the country.

Turning working relationships that he has with camps into friendships is his favorite part of the job. Matt doesn’t just work hard, though. He’s often times the straw that stirs the drink around the office and really contributes to the family we have at Everything Summer Camp.

Whether it’s his goofy office pranks or our cherished Question of the Day tournaments (in which he asks the employees here random trivia questions like what are the three types of clouds), he continually helps to unite us.

Aside from work, Matt’s a family man. He cherishes his wife and twins every day. He enjoys the outdoors as often as he can. He likes hunting and fishing and he’s crazy about sports. Nowadays he’s grown accustomed to the ways of the office though he sometimes misses his days as a traveling country music singer.

Still, Matt will always remain passionate about singing, playing the harmonica, and life in general.

Until next time, Campers! And, as always, thanks for reading!

Hey, Summer Camp Fans!

Our last Employee Spotlight blog post talked about our Production Supervisor, Shirley who is in charge of our camp trunk manufacturing.

The thought with these Employee Spotlight blog posts is for you to get to know us better here at Everything Summer Camp, learn something about the people who work here, and to get a better understanding of who we are as a company.

For today’s blog post I stopped in Mark’s office and had a chat with him. Mark is the Vice President of Everything Summer Camp—not to mention a very happy guy now that his latest project (our new website) has recently launched.

As Vice President of the company, Mark’s job is to oversee many different aspects of the business with a primary focus on Everything Summer Camp’s Web site and Product Development. His job faces him with new challenges every day.

Knowing Mark, he wouldn’t have it any other way. “I like finding solutions that are innovative in helping campers get ready for camp—or help them while they’re at camp,” he says. He loves that his job brings something new to the table every day. 

He’s had the same attitude toward his work for all of the nine years that he’s been here, starting out in Purchasing and moving up to Lead Buyer; Mark has held a variety of positions before becoming the Vice President of the company.

His involvement in Product Development constantly yields improvements in our graphics for trunk decorating, iron on labels, nameplates, and other trunk accessories. He’s always got great ideas from his own time spent at summer camp when he was a kid at no-longer-operating Camp Wowitan.

Mark sometimes summarizes his job as creating other jobs in that he’s always looking for more ways that Everything Summer Camp can branch out and grow. But what he loves best about his job is the people he works with. “It’s fun coming into work,” he says.

That’s all for now, Camp Fans. Until next time. Thanks for reading.

- John